Written By: Nick Spencer
Artist: CAFU
Inker: Bit
Colorist: Santiago Arcas
Cover Artist: John Cassaday & Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Patrick Brosseau
Editor: Wil Moss
My Awe-Inspiring Opinion
Half a year has passed us by since T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents first hit the comic book stands in its revitalized form. So far, the title has been perfect, leaving so much room for expansion and in depth story telling that doesn’t typically appear to this degree in modern comics.
Within the title name itself, this title screams back to a time when comics had corny names and hokey dialogue. This, in turn, calls for juxtaposing what the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents were versus what they are becoming now. Spencer is giving us a much more solid grounding of story development to plant our feet on, feeling more secure and confident in the believability of this title’s premise. We were hit pretty hard with issues 1 – 5, now we face #6 in a much slower and angst filled stillness…which is a perfect way to end the first arc and begin the new one.
Spencer is diving right into the consequences for becoming an agent wit no delay – where intense physical pain is expected, and a disconnection to the outside world and those you love is a normal way of life. Not only that, but we see a much more realistic representation of what superheroes would feel if, in fact, they were real. The happiness within the agents has disappeared, almost as if it were never there to begin with, and the hard truth about the choices they made in their past come back to haunt them. Despite their glorious victory as a team over Spider, each character is still in their own secluded, individual dull drums and haven’t connected as a group yet. Too often do new super teams develop friendships and bonds faster than they should. Spencer brings three troubled men together on one team to show that it isn’t as easy as it looks to become a part of and find your place within a new organization.
Of course, amidst all of the darkness and disparity, Spencer knows how to pay tribute to the title’s campy stage in life to bring us a new bad guy…the Iron Maiden! (Where are Bill and Ted’s and their air guitars when you need them?) She seems to be more of the classic Anti-hero; preying on the men who disrespect women and use them as bags of sexual meat to consume on a daily basis, if not more. I’m looking forward to seeing how Spencer fleshes this character out more.
Cafu and Bit take their usual quality and boost it up even more with amazing colors and top notch sketching abilities. What sticks out to me the most is the dark and gothic nature of the book; with its shadows and low lite rooms which help to inspire tense and invigorating scenes which will have you begging for more.
In fact, I would say it’s the art which brings the story forward the most as Spencer spends little time with the dialogue between characters to allow for a more visually amplified book.
My Majestically Climactic Conclusion
Everyone should honestly be picking up this title. If money is a concern, drop one of your multiple Batman or Superman titles from your pull list and add T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents to the mix…you won’t be disappointed.
9 out of 10
